Military Watch Forum
- Jan 26, 2024
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The U.S. Marine Corps' technology lead has provided an update on how the service will contribute to the Pentagon's plan to connect all weapons and sensors across the military.
The Corps' work on networks and command-and-control systems comes as it prepares for operations involving small units deployed as observers and shooters for a larger coalition force.
"It's all about data," Kevin Murray said April 30 during a panel discussion at the Modern Day Marine conference in Washington, D.C. After all, Marines can't conduct small-unit operations if they lack additional surveillance data from other sources or are unable to pass along targeting data they collect.
To that end, Murray said, the Corps is working on both Project Dynamis — the service's contribution to the Pentagon's Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control initiative, or CJADC2 — and a network unification plan.
During a recent reorganization of its acquisition offices at Marine Corps Systems Command and Program Executive Office Land Systems, the service created a Marine Air-Ground Task Force Command and Control program office. Previously, ground-based command-and-control systems fell under MCSC, while aviation-related C2 systems fell under PEO LS.
Despite the new program office, Murray said the Corps still lacked the ingredients to build and coordinate its contribution to CJADC2.
"We're not going to solve CJADC2 for the joint force, but we are going to figure out how we contribute and fit into that," he said of Project Dynamis. Work is ongoing to align with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command's Joint Fires Network, a battle management system; the Navy's secretive Project Overmatch initiative; the Army's experimental series Project Convergence; and the Air and Space forces' DAF Battle Network and Advanced Battle Management System.
Brig. Gen. David Walsh, the head of Marine Corps Systems Command, said "the ability to communicate across the Marine Corps, across the joint force, across our coalition of partners — it is the No.1 capability I think we need to accelerate."
For his part, Brig. Gen. Stephen Lightfoot, the director of the Capabilities Development Directorate that oversees Marine Corps requirements, said that as much as the service enjoys its self-sufficient Marine Air-Ground Task Force, "we are probably never going to go into any battle in the future as the Marine Corps; we're going to go into it as the United States with our allies and partners."
The Corps' work on networks and command-and-control systems comes as it prepares for operations involving small units deployed as observers and shooters for a larger coalition force.
"It's all about data," Kevin Murray said April 30 during a panel discussion at the Modern Day Marine conference in Washington, D.C. After all, Marines can't conduct small-unit operations if they lack additional surveillance data from other sources or are unable to pass along targeting data they collect.
To that end, Murray said, the Corps is working on both Project Dynamis — the service's contribution to the Pentagon's Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control initiative, or CJADC2 — and a network unification plan.
During a recent reorganization of its acquisition offices at Marine Corps Systems Command and Program Executive Office Land Systems, the service created a Marine Air-Ground Task Force Command and Control program office. Previously, ground-based command-and-control systems fell under MCSC, while aviation-related C2 systems fell under PEO LS.
Despite the new program office, Murray said the Corps still lacked the ingredients to build and coordinate its contribution to CJADC2.
"We're not going to solve CJADC2 for the joint force, but we are going to figure out how we contribute and fit into that," he said of Project Dynamis. Work is ongoing to align with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command's Joint Fires Network, a battle management system; the Navy's secretive Project Overmatch initiative; the Army's experimental series Project Convergence; and the Air and Space forces' DAF Battle Network and Advanced Battle Management System.
Brig. Gen. David Walsh, the head of Marine Corps Systems Command, said "the ability to communicate across the Marine Corps, across the joint force, across our coalition of partners — it is the No.1 capability I think we need to accelerate."
For his part, Brig. Gen. Stephen Lightfoot, the director of the Capabilities Development Directorate that oversees Marine Corps requirements, said that as much as the service enjoys its self-sufficient Marine Air-Ground Task Force, "we are probably never going to go into any battle in the future as the Marine Corps; we're going to go into it as the United States with our allies and partners."
